Tomoyo and the Dragon
by John Fiala
Summary: If magic exists, then dragons may too. And if they do, they might scoop up a virgin! Oh, what will happen to Tomoyo?


Tomoyo and the Dragon  
by John C Fiala  
  
Being a Dragon isn't what you'd think it is, especially given the   
books that are written today. We're still around, for one. We   
haven't left for some alternate magical world, or died out, or become   
people. Modern day people just don't see us, and they don't believe   
anyone who does.  
  
It's dreadfully annoying. I fly over Baltimore, and it's just   
another passenger jet. I eat a few cows, and it's aliens. I grab a   
virgin, and it's a runaway teen.  
  
Oh, wait. No, I see your face. No, I don't grab a virgin to eat   
her! Oh, never. It's hard to describe why we snatch virgins.   
Sometimes it's for the conversation, sometimes for the purity, and   
sometimes even we don't know why.   
  
I remember a time two hundred years ago when I plucked one pretty   
lass from the street. She fainted as soon as she saw what had   
grabbed her, and all I did was fly around with her in my grasp for   
half an hour, and then I sat her down on a hill near her home. I   
still don't know why. I'm afraid the Freud of dragons has yet to   
be hatched, but I look forward for when he is.  
  
The other day, I was winging along over Tokyo - I think the people   
below thought I was some sort of ad-balloon - and saw an interesting   
pair of girls walking home from school. I could see one of them was   
a virgin, and the other no longer was - although it had been a   
recent thing from the look of her. I slowed my glide to follow   
along with them, and listen.  
  
"Sakura-chan looks different," the virgin said. "What's happened?"  
  
"Different?" said the non-virgin, who I guessed was named Sakura.   
"What do you mean, Tomoyo-chan?"  
  
Tomoyo stopped, forcing her companion to stop as well. She   
considered her friend carefully, looking her over top to bottom, her   
dainty chin cradled in her hand. I think it was that image of her   
that cemented my decision to snatch her as soon as she was alone.   
"It's a little like being smug, and a little like joy, and a   
little," the girl hmmed, "a little guilty, I think. It's very new."  
  
Sakura blushed. "Well," she stammered, "Syaoran and I did, ah, get,   
um," and then her voice trailed off.  
  
Tomoyo's eyes widened slightly. "You didn't!" She cried out   
softly, her voice just every-so-slightly scandalized.  
  
Sakura could only look at the ground and blush.  
  
The virgin clamped onto her friend's arm. "You got your picture   
taken together!" She mock-frowned, saying "And you didn't have me   
do it for you!"  
  
Sakura's face just fell, the sudden shift in topic apparently   
preventing her from being able to control her body.  
  
Tomoyo laughed. "No, I know what you mean. How was it?"  
  
Sakura opened her mouth, closed it, got her feet under her properly,   
opened her mouth, and then just said "Hoeeee" with a dreamy look on   
her face.  
  
Her friend continued to laugh. "Oh! My, that sounds promising."   
She sounded happy, but for a moment I thought I saw a look of   
disappointment wash across her face. Afterwards, I wasn't even   
sure if I had seen it. "So, is 'it' everything the books say it   
is?"  
  
Sakura nodded, not trusting her voice.  
  
Tomoyo shook her head. "I'm not going to get any details from you   
for a few days, am I? Ah, I'll just have to imagine it, the person   
I love doing 'this' and 'that'," her voice trailed off.  
  
Sakura's face relaxed from its blush, and she looked a little   
frustrated. "Who is it? You've been teasing me about this for two   
weeks now! Who are you in love with?"  
  
Tomoyo daintily stuck her tongue out at Sakura. "Sakura-chan knows   
very well that when you figure out who I am in love with, I will   
tell you."  
  
Sakura nodded, the frustration still on her face. "It's not, it's   
not Syaoran, is it?"  
  
Tomoyo laughed. "Oh, that would be trouble, wouldn't it? No,   
Syaoran isn't it."  
  
Sakura pantomimed a gigantic sigh of relief. "Good!" They stopped   
at a crossroads. "Well, I'll talk to you later, Tomoyo-chan."  
  
"See you later, Sakura-chan!" The girls waved at each other, and   
then started walking in different directions. I banked quietly and   
followed the virgin on her way home.  
  
Her home apparently was a large house, surrounded by a high stone   
wall. Perfect snatching conditions! I waited until she had   
slipped out of sight behind the wall, and then swept down, snatching   
her ever so delicately in my claws, my wings beating energetically   
to pull us up into the sky.  
  
"Let me go!" screamed the virgin, wiggling in my claws.   
  
When I was much younger I once dropped someone doing that, but I've   
since learned how to hold on tight to my guests. I looped my long,   
slinky neck down so that I could talk face to face as we flew.   
"Stop wiggling like that! I could drop you!"  
  
She stopped. "Put me down!"  
  
I laughed. "Or what? No, I'm afraid you've been well and truly   
captured!"  
  
The virgin made a face and pulled out a toy of some sort. I laughed   
some more at the sight of it, I thought she was a little young to be   
playing with toys like that, but then I realized that it was some   
sort of phone. "Sakura," she said into the phone, "Help! I've been   
captured by some sort of dragon!"   
  
Disgruntled at her fooling me like that, I gave her a little shake,   
which called her to drop her phone. I watched it fall and shatter   
against the road underneath us, and gave a big grin. I wasn't   
feeling that happy, but the sight of so many teeth does have a   
tendency to frighten guests into being quiet. That done, the rest   
of our trip was made in quiet.  
  
The cave I had picked out, well, I don't know what you humans call   
it, so I can't tell you exactly where it is. There's no easy way   
for people to climb up there. It wasn't my cave, mind you - I have   
a much nicer one. But we dragons share our residences among   
ourselves, and so I had a place to stay while in Japan.   
  
I set the girl down on the floor while I flapped outside, and then   
climbed into the cave myself. The opening wasn't that large, but   
inside the cave opened up to a nice large lounging room. I   
stretched my slightly sore wings and settled down on some   
comfortable rocks. "Welcome to my home."  
  
The girl blinked. "Well, thank you for having me. You better let   
me go!"  
  
"I will, eventually. But first I want to talk to you."  
  
"You do? About what?"  
  
I grinned. "Sakura-chan."  
  
Her face twisted into anger. "You don't get to call her that! You   
don't know her!"  
  
"But you do. Who is it that you love, Tomoyo?"  
  
"Call me Daidouji-san." Her voice was curt, and she no longer faced   
me, instead just looking out the entrance.  
  
"Daidouji-san, then. Who is it that you love?"  
  
"Why do you care?" She stressed the 'you'.  
  
"I don't know. All I know is that I saw you walking with your   
friend," I was careful not to use her name, "and I knew I had to   
talk to you."  
  
"Can't you use a phone?"   
  
"Look at me! Come on, look at me!" She reluctantly turned. "What   
phone would reach between my ears and mouth? Besides, you've only   
had phone for what, half a century? I'm four-hundred years old!"  
  
Tomoyo looked at me a moment, and then broke into laughter. "What,   
can't I teach an old dragon a new trick?"  
  
It took me a moment to catch the joke, but then I joined her in her   
laughter. "Tell you what, little virgin. If you can make me a   
phone to use, I'll try to learn to use it in the future."  
  
She looked at me curiously. "Why do you call me that?"  
  
"What, 'little virgin'?"  
  
She nodded.   
  
"Well, because that's what you are. Small, and a virgin."  
  
She blushed. "You can tell?"  
  
I nodded. "It's something dragons can do. Unicorns are good at it   
too, although in their case they don't so much see virginity as a   
lack of virginity. Which, truth to tell, repulses them."  
  
"And Sakura-chan isn't a virgin anymore, is she?"  
  
Her tone of voice told me that it wasn't so much a question as a   
statement, but I confirmed it anyway. "That's right."  
  
This time the disappointment did show, as she sat down on a nearby   
rock. "I was hoping she was teasing. I knew she wasn't, but I was   
hoping," her voice trailed off.  
  
"I'm sorry, little virgin." I watched her reaction. "I think I can   
guess who it is you love now."  
  
"I've told her before. When we were younger. But she didn't   
understand then, and doesn't understand now. I started telling her   
I was in love with someone to try to get her to realize, but she   
doesn't. She's happy, though. I can be happy because she's   
happy, right?"  
  
"Sure, little virgin. I'm sure you can."  
  
She began to cry, and I lightly laid the very tip of my wing against   
her back, trying to comfort her. Humans are very fragile, and I   
couldn't help but think that this one was in an odd state right now,   
where the wrong touch could cause her to shatter like glass.   
"Don't worry. You'll wake up in the morning and this will all have   
been a dream."  
  
She sniffled, and looked up. "It will?"  
  
I nodded; glad to distract her with a new topic. "Sure! You've   
been captured by a dragon! Dragons don't exist because magic isn't   
real. Magic isn't real, ergo you're dreaming!" This is the point   
where my guests often become a lot chattier. After all, why worry   
about what you say when you're dreaming?  
  
"But magic does exist!"  
  
"Eh? Don't be silly." I felt truly ridiculous, trying to convince   
someone that I don't exist. It hasn't been this difficult for a few   
centuries now - unless you get a really young virgin. I wondered   
if that was the problem, but her curves wouldn't let her be any   
younger than a mature 14, and more likely 16. "Why would you think   
that?"  
  
She grinned, the sort of smile that tells you that the grinner knows   
something you don't. "Because Sakura-chan can do magic. In fact,   
I bet she's looking for me now!"  
  
I laughed more nervously than I intended, looking out of the cave.   
There was a black speck, a flying bird at great distance, but   
nothing else. I shook my head, telling myself I was silly. "There   
hasn't been any great magic for centuries, little virgin. How does   
your friend do her magic?"  
  
She leaned back, resting against the cave wall. "With Sakura cards,   
of course."  
  
I laughed, relieved. "Sakura cards, eh? Well, for a moment there   
I was afraid you were going to say they were Clow cards."  
  
Her eyes narrowed, relishing the moment. I felt a cold stab of   
fear. "That's what they used to be called. Before Sakura made   
them hers."  
  
Blast and damnation! I hadn't heard that the cards had become   
active again. And here I'd grabbed the card master's best friend!   
I looked outwards again, and saw that what I had taken for a distant   
bird had resolved into the virgin's friend, standing on top of a   
wand that had wings growing out the back. Oddly enough, she was   
rubbing her bottom. "Oh, hell."  
  
"Do you see her?"  
  
I turned to look at her. "Look, you've got to tell her I didn't hurt   
you! I didn't want to hurt you at all! I'm a dragon, we do this   
sort of thing!" Panic had taken hold of me. Dragons on the whole   
are fairly resistant to magic, but Clow's encoding of archetypes   
into cards were a level of magic that even we feared.  
  
The little virgin looked up at me, tilted her head slightly, and   
cradled her chin in her hand again. I'd seen the same posture back   
when she was looking at her friend, and I felt something in my heart   
again. Such a cute little thing. "All right, I'll tell her. But   
you'll owe me a favor."  
  
I nodded rapidly. Then I heard her coming, and looked out.  
  
Sakura was sitting astride her wand again, swooping towards the   
cave. She looked very mad, the Shield on her arm, and the Sword in   
her hand. Even from this distance, I could feel the desires of the   
cards: The Shield wanted to product Tomoyo, and the Sword just   
wanted to cut. I retreated back into the cave, waving the little   
virgin forward.  
  
Sakura landed on the floor, looking first at me, then at her friend.   
"Are you alright, Tomoyo-chan?"  
  
I swear if the little virgin were any happier at seeing her friend   
she would have split her face smiling. "Yes, Sakura-chan!" She ran   
up to the card mistress. "I'm so glad to see you!"  
  
Sakura's face was a mix of emotions. I could see joy, anger, and a   
strange sort of regret. "Good! Now I'm going to teach this dragon   
a lesson!" She walked towards me, and I imagined I could see the   
tip of the Sword begin to vibrate with its desire to cut into me.   
  
"No, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo said, putting her hand on her shoulder.   
"He didn't hurt me. I'm all right. Let him be."  
  
Sakura stopped, but she didn't lower her sword. I briefly   
considered breathing fire towards her, but I couldn't. For one, it   
would hurt the little virgin. For another, the Shield card would   
love nothing else but to protect the humans from me. "But, he   
hurt me."  
  
Tomoyo gasped lightly. "He did? What? What did he do?" Her   
voice grew angry, and I could feel the end of my life approaching   
like a freight train.  
  
Sakura turned slightly, dipping the Sword, facing her friend. "He   
took you away from me. When I heard what had happened to you, I   
felt," she paused, "I felt like the world had ended. Tomoyo-chan,   
I was so afraid you were dead!" A tear trailed down   
her cheek.  
  
Tomoyo hugged her friend close, and I breathed a sigh of relief.   
Maybe I would survive this.   
  
"I'm sorry," I said as gently as I could. "I just needed to talk   
to her. She's something special."  
  
Sakura looked up, and for a moment I thought I saw jealousy there.   
Then she turned to her friend, and pulled her towards the entrance.   
I thought they were going to leave, but then Sakura started to   
whisper to her friend.  
  
That doesn't do much good, by the way. We dragons have excellent   
hearing.  
  
"Tomoyo," she whispered, "I think I can guess who you love."  
  
Tomoyo looked a little worried. "You can?"  
  
Sakura nodded. "When I heard you were gone, how I felt, I can't   
describe. It was like someone had torn out a part of me, a part   
of my heart. All I could think about was finding you and getting   
you back."  
  
Tomoyo's face smoothed, her eyes wide with wonder. "You did?"  
  
Sakura nodded. "I can guess who Tomoyo-chan loves. And it's   
someone who loves her back." And then, before anything else could   
happen, they kissed.  
  
I wiped away a tear. I'm such a romantic.   
  
"Can I fly you home?"  
  
"What?" Sakura gave me a nasty look again. I guess I couldn't   
blame her for being suspicious  
  
"Look, it's a nice wand, but it's a little snug for two I'd think.   
You could ride on my back."  
  
They looked at each other, and eventually they agreed. It took a   
little longer to fly them back - I didn't want the girls to be   
swept off of my back by the wind. But as they climbed off my back   
in Tomoyo's yard, she told me to look for her in a month.  
  
  
The month went by fairly quickly, as I warned my brothers that   
the Clow cards were back. Most of them didn't believe me, but   
what can I do? They at least have been warned. Not that I think   
we'll have too much trouble with this Sakura, but it's best to   
be sure. When the time was up, I flew back into town. Tomoyo was   
waiting inside of her yard, in a secluded area near the fence, and   
I barely managed to fit as I landed. I looked about. "Is your   
friend here?"  
  
Tomoyo shook her head. "She's with Syaoran. Her boyfriend."  
  
I raised an eyebrow. "I thought you and her?" I didn't really   
want to complete the sentence, because I realized I wasn't entirely   
sure what the two had decided on.  
  
Tomoyo sighed. "It's complicated. I love her, and she loves me -   
but I'm afraid she also loves him, and he loves her. I don't know   
what will happen."  
  
"I'm sorry"  
  
Tomoyo shook her head. "Don't be. Now, at least, something will   
happen. I'm grateful for what you did, really. But still," and   
here she picked up a large box by her feet. "This is for you."  
  
I blinked. People aren't generally in the habit of giving gifts to   
my kind, and I opened the box. Inside was a large object, and it   
took me a few moments to realize what it was.  
  
"It's a phone for you," Tomoyo said, seeing my confusion. It   
should fit your head?"  
  
I picked it up, and held it to my head. An odd noise came from the   
earpiece.   
  
We spent some time, her teaching me how to use the phone, and her   
phone number. I thanked her, and gave her a gentle hug with my   
wings. "Don't worry about Sakura, little virgin," I said.   
"Whatever ends up, she does love you, like a knight and his lady   
fair."  
  
She smiled, and gave a kiss to the end of my snout, and said   
goodbye.  
  
And that is why I'm the only dragon with a cell phone.  
  



End file.
